Dawgs rebound from loss earlier this week to win in Columbia

Apparently, South Carolina was not made aware that there would be an additional 20 minutes of play following the intermission.

Or at least, so it seemed.

After a close first half that saw the Dawgs and Gamecocks knotted up at 34-apiece, Georgia capitalized on poor shooting from Frank Martin’s team to open up a big lead coming out of the break. UGA started out the half with a 9-1 run, giving them a 43-35 advantage following a Marcus Thornton jumper with 14:40 left in the game.

Carolina did not even convert a field goal until nearly ten minutes had elapsed, when Sindarious Thornwell knocked down a shot to make it 50-37, Georgia.

The Gamecocks connected on just 5 of their 31 second half field goal attempts in an offensive display that can only be described as pitiful.

UGA rode sophomore Kenny Gaines – who scored a career high 27 points – to the 73-56 victory.

Charles Mann followed up a disappointing 5-point effort at Tennessee earlier in the week with another dud of a performance in Columbia on Saturday. Mann finished with just 7 points on 1 for 10 shooting from the floor, and his lone field goal did not come until less than 4 minutes remained in the game.

Fortunately, Mann’s teammates were more than capable of picking up the slack and shouldering some of the scoring load. In addition to Gaines’s excellent play, Coach Mark Fox got 12 points apiece from Marcus Thornton and Brandon Morris. Thornton grabbed 10 rebounds as well, giving him his third double-double of the season.

Today’s win brings Georgia a step closer to securing one of the top four spots in the conference, which would mean a bye to the third round of the SEC tournament.

UGA now has three conference road wins on the year, and this victory bolsters the Dawgs to 15-11 overall and 9-5 in the SEC.

Georgia received a little help earlier in the day from the Florida Gators as they knocked off Ole Miss, sending the Rebels to 7-7 in the conference.

The Dawgs could really benefit from more assistance from around the SEC today as any losses for LSU, Tennessee or Missouri would add more cushioning to Georgia’s third place spot.

UGA plays again on Tuesday night in Athens against Missouri in a huge game that should have SEC tournament seedings on the line.

Only problem is that, barring an incredible performance early on, we won’t know if we’re a tourny team until about this time next year. We’ve GOT to have recruits for the 15/16 season. How many good players are still out there for next year now? Hardly any. My point is that CMF cannot wait on next years results to sway 15/16 recruits, he’s going to have to work off this years results and lock those kids up in the early signing period. Going to be a tough sell seeing as how he is on the coaching bubble himself. I wish him luck!

The development of KG as a pure shooter and Thornton as surprise player is largely responsible for our success this year. And improved rebounding. When KG is off, we don’t play well. This team still lacks consistency. Mann is streaky. Very good at beating bad/average teams and awful against good teams. A solid win nonetheless. The “failure to participate”in last week’s loss to TN might be the killer in considering post season play.

I don’t know if it matters where they come from, but I think we need 18 wins to be assured a bid. I keep thinking back to that horrible showing in Charleston and the two bad- loss week (Vandy and Auburn) as tragic lost opportunities for this team. True’ it’s all water over the dam now, but imagine us now at 20-5 or 19-6, a two day bye in the SEC tournament, and probably needing only one win there to punch our ticket to the dance. I know we are working with a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but we took far too long to get our mojo on in my opinion.

I do think we do have a chance at the NIT provided we show up for the remaining games. Can’t have a “tired” performance like the TN game. The SEC tournament being in Atlanta gives us a chance to beat Florida or Kentucky, if we get that far. Always afraid that Fox gets in a mood and does the fire drill substitution pattern to prove a point to somebody.

I think we have a great chance to get a matchup against UF or UK in the tourney. If we clinch a top 4 seed we will only have to win one game against a middle of the pack team to get a marque matchup. The problem is the other team would probably need a good tournament to make the big dance so they would come to play. On a neutral court in Atlanta I like our chances against anyone but the big 2.

And IF we get a matchup against one of the two good teams and somehow beat them, we would be a lock for the NIT and for that matter only be one more win from the NCAA.

A lot has to happen, but a top 4 seed is crucial. We have won it before with a much worse team and we could somehow get hot for 3 games.

I think you are dead on. We need 18 wins for a bid, and that includes the SEC tourney. So the scenario I am hoping for is 3-2 the rest of the way out; then 1 SEC tourney win. I asked some other people and they thought I was nuts for even considering we have a chance. Still the what if’s are just looking so heavily with some of the non-conference losses we had. Still this season is one small victory for Fox and I think buys him at least 2 more years depending on his contract. If he has one more year; then he has to get to the tourney next season.

First, Let’s do away w/the “Bubble Talk” for the job of Mark Fox! He has proven himself quite nicely while this years team has fiddle farted itself into tournament contentionwith these Sophs and Frosh. I’d say he will definitely be up for SEC COTY. When he arrived he was supposed to be able to coach the Bigs. However, The big guard formula seems to be working now since our bigs this year couldn’t hit free throws if they moved to 7.5 feet! I would prefer to have players at any height as long as they can move,penetrate and play defense! Why is that age old formula of going to the FTL , both toes perpindicular to the line, take 3 bounces and ease that free throw into the net! With the exception of Mann they all want to spin the ball a couple of times, fake themselves and EOE outas to when they will shoot!This is funda”mental” and Fox should stop the nonsense now! We should have an NIT bid nailed down now if our attendance wasn’t so bad! The NCAA’s are a stretch for this year, but next year seem certain. If we can have 10,523 there for our remaining home games and split our road games we will be set to take down one of the Big Two!